Russian share of crude supplies to oil refinery in China might increase
BEIJING. Oct 12 (Interfax) - Russia and China are discussing the possibility of increasing the planned share of Russian crude supplies to the future oil refinery in Tianjin, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said.
"The issue of increase supplies to the Tianjin Oil Refinery within the context of Rosneft's share participation is being discussed," Sechin said.
Earlier plans projected that the refinery would process 13 million tonnes of oil per year, including about 9 million tonnes from Russia.
As reported earlier, Russian oil major Rosneft and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) will soon form the board of directors of the Vostok Petrochemicals joint venture that is implementing the project to build an oil refinery in the Chinese city of Tianjin. Rosneft will present its nominations to the board to the Chinese company.
Production at the refinery will be geared toward petrochemicals, base oils and exports of oil products.
An agreement on the feasibility study for the construction of the refinery in Tianjin was signed in 2010 within the context of the Vostok Petrochemicals joint venture (49% owned by Rosneft, 51% by CNPC), and a ceremony was held to lay the first foundation stone of the future refinery.
Crude will be shipped by tanker to the port terminal in Tianjin and then travel by pipeline the remaining 42 km to the refinery. The light oil products yield is expected to be more than 80% at the new plant. The target markets for the oil products are Northern China and the Central Plains region (including Beijing, Tianjin, and the provinces of Hebei, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong), as well as the coast of Eastern China.
The companies are also considering building a chain of filling stations under the joint venture.